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We
attribute the Post-Neolithic layers of Vela Cave to its continuous
occupation by the Neolithic population during the new, Eneolithic
period. In reference to this phenomenon we use the term “Eneolithic
phase of Hvar culture”, duration of which coincides with the
Eneolithic period. We divide it in two stages: an older stage that
corresponds to the beginning of the Eneolithic, and a younger one
that corresponds to the second (younger) half of the Eneolithic
period*. Position of the Eneolithic phase of Hvar culture is determined
by stratigraphy. This phase immediately overlays thick Neolithic
strata, and underlays a compact Bronze Age layer.
In most of the excavated squares, the beginning of the older stage
(the transition from the final Late Neolithic to the first Eneolithic
stage) is discernible as one of several dozen layers of charcoal
and ash, although that is not always the case. These layers are
characterized by initial poverty, absence of decoration, and by
a material culture similar to that of the preceding period. Careful
“Hvar type” burnishing disappears by the end of Neolithic,
channeling becomes coarser, and other decorative techniques are
radically reduced. More than anything else, coarse, unburnished
vessels, often with light-colored surfaces and slightly concave
necks that join the shoulder at a sharp angle, herald the onset
of a new culture. Lower parts of those vessels become conically
elongated by gradual evolution, their necks are reduced and shoulders
practically disappear, that is, they are transformed into a step-like
protrusion at the juncture of concave neck and convex body of the
vessel. Almost half of all of the identified vessel shapes belong
to countless variants of this type, which may be regarded as a “trade
mark” type of the Adriatic Eneolithic.
Production and use of flint artifacts reaches its peak during this
phase. This is especially evident in very careful and fine retouch
that covers the entire working surface of most artifacts. High quality
raw materials are used almost exclusively. They are used for production
of a number of short knives, thin end scrapers, trapezoidal raclettes,
or debitage that was used as blades. Most of the bone artifacts
belong to well-known types of tools, a variety of needles and points.
The cave is visited more often during the younger stage, when potsherd
frequencies rise to several hundred pieces per square meter. Vessels
with step-like protruding shoulder continue to dominate the assemblage.
This is practically the only vessel shape that is decorated, although
only a very small fraction of several hundred specimens are decorated.
Channeling is no longer used, aside from a few imported pieces.
The same can be said about more-or-less clumsy imitation of this
technique, applied on vessels that are of local origin, judging
by their structure. Their decoration consists of series of vertical
incisions that mimic channeling, and either run continuously around
the circumference of the vessel, or are distributed in groups which
are sometimes separated by long vertical incised lines or plastic
apliqué ribs. With further simplification of the decorative
system (especially near the end of this stage), plastic apliqué
ribs, distributed cross-wise in groups of one to three, sometimes
constitute the only decoration. The earliest examples of bowls with
externally thickened ring-like rims appear near the end of this
stage.
Huge numbers of sheep and goat bones testify of the basic economy
of the Eneolithic, although cattle remains constitute a substantial
fraction of the faunal assemblage.
Eneolithic layers of Vela Cave are a product of continued occupation
of the site by the old Hvar population during the new times. Main
features of material culture are its longevity and remarkable intensity
of occupation, but also its sweeping and constant decorative poverty
that is reflected in a sharp decrease of burnished potsherds, a
drop in frequency of decorated vessels, and a radical impoverishment
of the decorative system. Vessel shapes are restricted to a few
simple forms, which commonly appear during all prehistoric periods.
We resolved the dilemma of whether the finds from the Eneolithic
strata belong to an independent phenomenon or to yet another developmental
phase of Hvar culture by comparing material culture characteristics
between the two periods. Results of this comparison indicate that
Neolithic and Eneolithic layers are highly interconnected, to a
degree that usually prevents us from drawing a clear line between
the two. This may be explained by longevity and gradual evolution
of Hvar culture, which accepts foreign influences and adapts to
them, but retains its ethnic and cultural identity. It follows that
Hvar culture develops through two phases, a Neolithic and an Eneolithic
phase, and six stages, four of which belong to the Neolithic (early,
classic, late and final), and two to the Eneolithic (older Eneolithic
stage and younger Eneolithic stage).
Importance of Vela Cave rests in the fact that this site allows
us to follow what seems to be one and the same ethnic community,
upon which all the important developments of the times are projected
(in spite of its peripheral location), and which is forced to adapt
to all the changes.
*In literature, Eneolithic is generally split into an older, a middle
and a younger stage. The first two are usually considered as coterminous
with “Pelješka culture” or “Nakovana culture”,
while the third, ill-defined stage (developed Eneolithic) is equated
with influences of a variety of continental penetrations, e.g. with
late Vucedol population, or the Adriatic type of Ljubljana culture,
or incipient Cetina culture, etc. This third stage could not be
defined in the Vela Cave strata. In the next chapter we argue that
all of the phenomena mentioned above appear together, but in the
following, younger phase which they actually constitute. From the
aspect of Vela Cave stratigraphy, the question whether the incipient
stage of that phase belongs to the end of the Eneolithic or the
beginning of the Bronze Age depends on individual author’s
approach and definition of those periods. We shall be happy to agree
with the judgment that eventually prevails in our prehistoric archaeology.
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Hrvatski
